“…that crazy fella that’s a runnin’ it….They say he ain’t scared of nothing. If he wants a picture of a lion, he just goes up to him and tells him to look pleasant.”
-dock watchman, King Kong 1933
Captain Merian C. Cooper – 1918
It was Beauty that killed the beast!
Flying a plane called the ‘The Flaming Coffin’ during World War 1, American Merian C. Cooper was deep over German lines…
Highly outnumbered in a dogfight, his Co-pilot is shot threw the neck by enemy fire crippling his plane in flames…
As his plane is engulfed in flames, a blast burns the front of his body including his face and hands. Badly injured, he tries to talk to his copilot who is unconscious and he fears already dead…
Having no parachute and out of options, he climbs onto his planes bi wing…
About to in his own words “Free Ball” it (i.e jump without parachute from a burning plane high over land) he hears a voice…
Its his Copilot… Alive……
Knowing if he jumps its certain death for his friend, he climbs back into the plane…
Unable to grab the controls with his severely burned hands, he crash lands the burning plane with his elbows and knees…
Both men survive the burning crash only to be taken prisoner by the Germans and sent to a German Prisoner of War camp.
When WW1 finally ends he is released from the German POW camp.
Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, he refused saying…
“We all took the same risks”
-Merian C. Cooper
Captain Merian C. Cooper poses with an unknown officer next to a Kościuszko Squadron plane of Italian origin.
Staying in Europe after he is released from the German pow camp, he chooses to volunteeringly join the Polish Air Force when Russia invades Poland…
Flying against the Russians, he successfully flies over 70 missions. The Bolsheviks, hearing of his heroics, even put a price on his head…
He is eventually shot down, for a second time, deep inside Russian lines…
Presumed killed in action, he is taken prisoner by the Bolsheviks…
They take him all the way to Moscow to one of the worst work camps of the time…
Not happy with his current predicament he escapes the camp… Only to be captured 5 days later…
In 1920 Poland wins their independence, Russia releases the POW’s from the brutal work camps, but there is a problem…
He is an American, not Polish like the rest of the POW’s at the camp… So they decide to keep him to rot…
Plotting, it takes him 1 1/2 years of planning. Along with 2 of his friends from the camp, he somehow manages to escapes from the camp… For a second time in his life…
Taking 2 weeks of grueling travel through hostile enemy land,the 3 escapees finally make it to freedom at the Latvia border…
‘The Escapees’ Cooper and the escapees from the Russian prisoner of war work camp
He was awarded the ‘Cross of the Brave’. Poland’s highest honor for his contribution fighting for their freedom…
Grateful for his service to their country upon his escape, the Polish Government tries to give him money and land in Poland.
He refused saying “he didn’t want to profit off the war”…
Cooper With ZumbachFeric
After the war he starts to film silent movies, in 1925 he begin’s to make “Grass”, filming the Bakhtiari tribe of Persia (now Iran) making their annual migration.
1925 silent movie ‘Grass’
The movie opens with directors Cooper and Schoedsack smoking water pipes with tribesmen…
Opening scene from the 1925 silent movie, ‘Grass’
The fun even continued behind the scenes in this fun foreign land…
Cooper, Harrison and Schoedsack, smoking waterpipes behind the scene’s of filming ‘Grass’ 1925
With the success of Grass at the height of the depression, he decides to make a huge blockbuster on a scale untried… The new movie is named ‘King Kong’…
Merian C. Cooper – promotional shoot for King Kong – 1933
With no backers for the huge film, he “borrows” some studio equipment, sets and even actors to shoot a test reel of his movie in the middle of the night… The stunt works and history is made…
Director Merian C. Cooper Tells Fay Wray the Story of King Kong, promotional shoot for King Kong – 1933
He created a larger then life Character known the world over. Kong was the only creature he could think of large enough to cover his own gigantic footsteps in history…
Merian C. Cooper – promotional shoot for King Kong – 1933